🎃🌱 How to Grow Jack O’ Lantern Pumpkins – For Kids in the UK!

Want to grow your own Halloween pumpkin from a little seed? With sun, soil, and a splash of water, you can grow a pumpkin big enough to carve a spooky face in! 👻🧡

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🧺 What You’ll Need:

• Jack O’ Lantern pumpkin seeds 

• Small plant pots or yogurt cups

• Compost or seed soil

• Bigger pots or space in the garden

• Watering can or spray bottle

• Sunshine and patience!

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📅 When to Plant

• Sow indoors: April to early May

• Plant outdoors: Late May to June (after all frost is gone)

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🌱 Let’s Grow Some Pumpkins!

🏠 Step 1: Start Indoors

1. Fill a small pot with damp compost.

2. Make a hole about 2–3cm deep with your finger.

3. Pop in one pumpkin seed, then cover it up.

4. Water gently and put the pot on a sunny windowsill.

5. Pumpkin babies will sprout in 7–10 days!

🎩 Magic Tip: Talk to your pumpkin every day to help it grow strong!

🌞 Step 2: Move Outdoors (Late May–June)

1. When your pumpkin plant is 15cm tall, and it’s warm outside, it’s ready!

2. Pick a sunny spot in the garden or a big pot.

3. Dig a hole and gently plant your pumpkin, then water well.

4. Leave lots of room – pumpkins like to stretch out and sprawl!

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🌿 Pumpkin Care Guide

💧 Water

• Water your pumpkin every day when it’s sunny — they get very thirsty!

🌞 Sunlight

• Give it full sunshine – pumpkins LOVE to sunbathe!

🌸 Flowers First!

• Yellow flowers will appear first — these turn into pumpkins!

🧑‍🌾 Feeding

• Use plant food (like tomato feed) every couple of weeks for extra power.

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🎃 Growing the Pumpkin

• Your pumpkin will start small and grow bigger and bigger over the summer!

• Put a tile or piece of cardboard under it to stop it going soggy on the ground.

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🕸️ Harvest Time!

• Your pumpkin will be ready to pick in September–October.

• It’s ready when it’s big, orange, and the stem is dry and brown.

• Use scissors or garden snips to cut it off the plant.

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👻 What Can You Do With It?

• 🎃 Carve it into a Jack O’ Lantern for Halloween!

• 🥧 Use the inside to make pumpkin pie, soup, or muffins!

• 🌰 Save the seeds to grow again next year!

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🤩 Fun Ideas

• 🧙‍♂️ Name your pumpkin – like “Spookster” or “Big Boo”!

• 📏 Measure your pumpkin each week and draw it in your pumpkin journal.

• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Pumpkin Patch Party: Grow pumpkins with your family or class and compare them!

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💡 Top Tips

• Pumpkins hate the cold – always wait until it’s warm before planting outside.

• Keep the area around the plant weed-free.

• If your plant grows too long, you can gently guide the vines where you want them to go!